OFFICE OF
THE CHAIRMAN
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
WASHINGTON
April 15, 2016
The Honorable Jeff Merkley
United States Senate
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Merkley:
Thank you for your letter regarding the pending transfer of noncommercial broadcast
stations from JPR Foundation to Southern Oregon University (SOU). Your views are very
important and I appreciate you bringing this issue to my attention.
Let me assure you that Commission staff is actively reviewing this application, and we
hope to conclude our review as soon as possible. As part of our review, staff in the
Commission's Media Bureau requested required information that was missing from SOU's
original assignment application. Staff recently received the last such amendment providing this
missing information and is now reviewing the application. This missing information was in
large part the reason why this matter has remained pending.
In addition, please note that the application is subject to an objection filed by Ronald
Kramer on July 8, 2013. Commission staff must dispense with all objections before moving
toward a final resolution. Now that SOU has filed all of the requested amendments to the
assignment application, Commission staff is in a position to review the merits of this objection
and will do so promptly. While I cannot provide a timeline for when this matter will be resolved,
I can assure you it is being actively handled and we will bring this to a resolution as quickly as
we can.
I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know if I can be of any further
assistance.
Sincerely,
/
Tom Wheeler